Tasawwuf/Sufism in
Islam

Imam Hamza Yusuf, sometime khatib at
the Muslim Community Association of
Santa Clara, California, spoke on Sufism in Islam, directly following a
lecture by Dr.
Anne-Marie Schimmel, former Harvard professor of Oriental Studies. Imam
Hamza began by noting that the architecture of Stanford is modeled after
traditional Andalusian, Moroccan and North African universities. He said that
Islamic architecture and civilization was once great as was its scholarship, but
unfortunately the Muslim ummah has fallen behind in these spheres.

Imam Hamza continued:

"The fundamental and underlying message
in the tradition of Islam I think personally is that it does not and refuses
to create this dialectic in which a person's inward and their outward become
split. [In non-Islamic systems] people are either forced to become esoterists
or they are forced to become exoterists.

"In fact what Islam is trying to do and
what most of the other spiritual religions and in fact from the Muslim
perspective all of them have failed to do is to join these two elements in a
harmonious and balanced way and this is why in the tradition of Islam Sufism
has always been part of the traditional Islamic curriculum in every single
Muslim university. I know of no period in the Islamic tradition in which
Sufism was not taught in the universities and not seen as an important and
fundamental aspect of the tradition of Islam.

"Sidi Ahmad Zarruq wrote a great book
called the principles of Sufism in which he clarified traditional and orthodox
Sufism says in his principle number 208, 'there are five reasons for
repudiating the Sufis the first of these is with reference to the perfection
of their path. For if the Sufis latch on to a special dispensation or if they
misbehave or are negligent in a matter or if a fault manifests itself in them,
people hasten to repudiate them.' Because they are people who have
traditionally been the most strongest and fierce adherents to the sacred
teaching of Islam and they have been the ones also that have never inclined
toward easy ways out on terms of the shariah or the sacred law.

"They have been the strictest adherents
to the sacred law, but they have a wonderful principle: that is be hard on
yourself and be gentle with other people. Unfortunately, the disease of this
age amongst many Muslims is be easy on yourself and be hard on everybody else.
So I think this is where the real crises of rejecting Sufism as one
third of Islam has had really devastating results in much of the modern
Islamic phenomenon. {Shaykh Ahmad Zarruq] said 'this is because no servant is
free of fault unless he is granted infallibility or protection by God.'

"The second reason [for people to
repudiate Sufis] is the sensitivity of the observer. [The observer's]
criticism of the Sufis and their knowledge and states occurs as much as the
ego, nafs, hastens to deny knowledge it does not posses. Imam Sayyidina
Ali was known for saying, 'Whoever is ignorant of a thing is its natural
enemy.'

"The third reason [to reject the Sufis]
is the existence of many who fall short of their claims and those who seek
[worldly] gain through the guise of religiosity. This has been an affliction
within the Muslim ummah. It is well known of the people claiming to be Sufis,
putting on the garments of Sufis, and tricking simple followers and
worshippers; getting them to give them their money, to slavishly serve them,
and these type of things. This has happened historically in the Muslim world.
The [pious] imams have always been the strictest at trying to prevent this
deception, because there is nothing worse than deceiving somebody in religion.
Give me a mafia gangster any day over a fraudulent religious observer--really!
This is the reason for denying any claim that they might make even though
there is proof of it. Because it is found doubtful.

"The fourth reason is fear for the
generality that they might be lead astray by following esoteric doctrines
without upholding the letter of the law as happens to many ignorant people. So
ignorant people might hear some statement which is said by a Sufi and they
completely misunderstand it. And Abu Yazid al-Bistami put in Imam Dhahabi's tabaqat
is considered a faqih (jurisprudent). Imam Dhahabi is considered a
student of Ibn Taymiyya and he considers Abu Yazid al-Bistami a reasonable and
sound source of hadith. Yet Abu Yazid al-Bistami is the one who is noted for
saying 'Subhanee' which means 'Glory to Me!' This is known in the
technical vocabulary of the Sufis as a shatha, an ecstatic utterance.
If a person says it in a state in which their self is absent they are not
taken to account for it We have proof of it in Sahih Bukhari about a
slave in the middle of a desert in which the Prophet (s) says that because he
finds his lost beast he shouts out in joy 'Allah you are my slave and I am
Your lord!' The Prophet explained that that slave made a mistake in his
ecstatic state after finding his animal. This is someone who finds their
animal, so how much greater for someone who has found his Lord?! What about
his state of ecstasy?

"The fifth reason [to reject Sufism] is
the covetousness some people have for the ranks of Sufism. In traditional
Muslim society the Sufis were held up as literally the highest people in the
society; they were the shaykhs. Imam Nawawi was a great Sufi, [Qadi] Iyad was
a great Sufi, Ibn Hajar Asqalani was a great Sufi, Imam Ibn Jawzi was a great
Sufi. All of these great imams were known to be Sufis of great stature. Abu
Hamid al Ghazzali who is given the title Hujjat al-Islam is probably the
greatest example. People wanted to be like them, and the Arabs are notorious
in their understanding if you are not like noble people pretend to be like
them because even that is a type of nobility.

"Finally [Sidi Ahmad Zarruq] said, 'Thus
people are inclined to become inflamed with the Sufis, more so than with any
other group.' People in official positions exert pressure on them more than
anybody else. This was a traditional area in which the government would try to
influence the Sufis because they knew that they had such a vast amount of
power over the common people The Sufis were traditionally the most distant and
furthest people from the governors or the government unless they were
righteous rulers like Nizam al Mulk who Imam Ghazali actually helped to build
the Nizamiyya system of teaching. And anyway [Sidi Ahmad Zarruq] says, 'Anyone
who falls in any of these categories except for the last is either rewarded or
excused and Allah knows best.'

"I was asked to make a du`a and
I would like to make the du`a of the people of North Africa which I
heard many, many times in North Africa and was always very impressed by it; it
is called Salat Tunjiyya--the prayer that saves people:

O Allah pray on our Master Muhammad a prayer
by means of which we will be saved from every awe-inspiring harmful thing,
and that will take care of all of our needs,
and purify us by means of it from all of our ugly qualities and
characteristics
and raise us and purify us by means of it from all of our ugly qualities and
characteristics
and raise us up by means of it in Your Presence to the highest of degrees,
and cause us to reach by means of it the extremes of all goodness in our life
and after our death
and this prayer be upon his family and his companions
and may he be given safety and much salaam.

"I would like to thank on behalf of CAIR
and the Muslims in this area everybody for attending this lecture. Thank you
very much."